Sport
20 January, 2025
'The ultimate goal': All roads lead to Stawell Gift for Patrick Martin
Patrick Martin wins the 70m and 100m at Frankston Gift.
PRO RUNNING
All roads lead to Stawell for Ballarat's Patrick Martin after he produced one of the rarest feats in professional running, taking out both the 70m and 100m at the Frankston Gift.
Martin won the 70m off a handicap of 4.25m in a time of 7.483 seconds, just slightly ahead of POD Squad training mate Elijah Cross, off 4m, in 7.509 seconds. The 70m is the richest such race in the country.
He then backed up later in the day with a win in the 100m, off 6.5m, in a time of 10.335 seconds.
Martin is better known as a 400m sprinter and will next head to Canberra this coming weekend as he attempts a personal best time under 47 seconds.
He said he was thrilled to do the double at Frankston which would give him confidence for the rest of the season.
"It was very windy at Frankston Oval, it was sort of all over the place really, I reckon early in the day it started as a tail wind and was probably a head wind at the end," he said.
"I think it helped me in the later in the day, but in 100m race, I know that the back end of the race is going to be my best.
"The 100m is a bit of a different race, as we're normally doing the 120m. You have to adjust a little bit down to the 100m. For me, I tend to get going after the 50m mark, so I did a lot of block work to make sure I'm nailing my first 30 metres and it's paid off."
Also at Frankston, Liv Parnell was also twice on the podium in both the 400m women and 120m under-18.
Martin said winning the 400m at Stawell two years ago had allowed to focus more on the 120m races this season as he chases the big prize at Stawell, although he will run the 400m in Canberra and at the Ballarat Gift before turning his attention full-time to the shorter event.
"What it means is that I'll get half-a-metre lift for Stawell which is what I wanted, it puts me in a really good position," he said. "I won't be able to run the 120m now in Ballarat, I won't run any more of those until Stawell now, but I'll still be competing in 70m, which I know I'll be one of the backmarkers in that now as I did break ceiling time by a fair bit.
"I've got the win which was awesome. I'll put a focus on the 400m at Ballarat now after Canberra. I'll be aiming to break into the 46s PB which would be pretty cool.
"After that, I'll put all my focus in going to Stawell. The 120m at Stawell is the ultimate goal. Growing up, I had dad who was a professional runner, he made two Stawell finals and could never get the job done.
"It made me fall in love with the sport, it's my goal now to make it there into that final. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you don't want to waste that opportunity, so I'll lock in the next couple of of months and put my best foot forward."